DISCOURSE AND DEIXIS

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Abstract
There is an inclination to think that pronouns, when they have singular indefinite antecedents, admit of only two kinds of interpretation. They can be seen either as ‘bound ’ by their antecedents or as coreferential with them. Which is appropriate on a given occasion will depend upon how the antecedent is used. We shall argue that neither account can be paradigmatic of the relation between pronouns and singular indefinite antecedents, at least not as this relation is realized in discourse. ‘Binding ’ would seem to misrepresent the typical structure of discourse; and indefinite noun phrases do not refer, despite the fact that people sometimes use them with some particular in mind. We shall suggest an alternative account which satisfies some of the intuitive desiderata

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